|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By John Rodgers
After the first televised lieutenant governor’s debate with my opponent last week, it is clear that his answer to everything is more taxes and fees.
As I travel around the state, I am hearing from Vermonters, no matter their party affiliation, that they are tired of being crushed by rising rents, spiraling property taxes, unsustainable heating and lighting bills, commuting costs, and healthcare costs. If you are tired of these crushing costs, then I am your candidate. I will be your voice in Montpelier.
I served in the legislature for 16 years as a Democrat. My Democratic values have not changed, but the party that I used to belong to has. I am now the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor because my opponent and the progressives have taken over the Democratic Party that I was raised in. They no longer care about nor represent working Vermonters. Progressive elitist values have destroyed the Democratic Party and are actively destroying Vermont communities, making them both unaffordable for average Vermonters and literally unsafe.
I have always supported women’s rights and everyone’s right to bodily autonomy. I am the only candidate who truly respects women and their personal boundaries, and I will always fight for women’s rights and equality. While serving in the House of Representatives, I was the only member of the legislature who lost my seat because I supported marriage equality. So when I say I support everyone’s rights, I mean it.
My opponent pretends to care about climate change, but his solutions are destroying the environment, both here in Vermont and around the planet. He supports the child and slave labor mining the world’s cobalt, a crucial metal in the “renewable energy” industry, so long as he can pretend to be green and that his policies address climate change in Vermont. What is clear is that he supports the policies of his millionaire friends and donors in the energy development business.
My opponent supports solar panels that are built in sweatshops in China using coal power. He is also responsible for dumping thousands of pounds of plastic into the landfill. Plastic that he has used on his farm for crops. On my farm, I spend the extra money for a plant-based, fully biodegradable, and certified organic row crop cover because I believe in always doing what is right for the earth even if it costs me a bit more.
My opponent supports allowing multinational corporations to destroy Vermont ridgelines and watersheds for the profits of millionaires. I want to develop renewable energy that is responsible and that actually addresses climate change. We must use materials that are ethically sourced, such as solar panels that are produced here in the United States with clear labor and environmental standards. We must develop our renewable energy as much as possible on “the built” environment and as close to the end user as possible. It’s common sense, and so, I support the many Vermont solar developers who care about where they source their materials and who truly care about the good of Vermont and the planet.
Personally, my opponent and I could not be more different. My opponent grew up in privilege in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in Massachusetts. I grew up the son of poor dairy farmers here in Vermont. It clearly has influenced our values.
I am an open and honest person. My opponent is not. My opponent said in his publicly paid for newsletter that I opposed a $15 minimum wage bill, which I did, but he did not admit that I supported the $15 minimum wage bill after it was improved. When I asked him if he paid his farmworkers $15 an hour he admitted that he did not. Imagine a millionaire who pays his help poverty wages.
My opponent pretends a lot and does not seem to be open and honest with voters. He pretends to be a Democrat, to be a poor farmer, to support a livable wage, and to support women in the workplace. I find his duplicitous behavior unacceptable and question his fitness for office. That kind of deceit will not take place in my office–your office. With me, for better or worse, what you see is what you get.
I am proud of Governor Scott’s endorsement as a lieutenant governor he can work with and whom he can trust to work honestly through the difficult and trying times ahead of us. I am the only candidate who will work for you. I am the only candidate who will respect everyone’s constitutional rights. And, I am the only candidate who will work to make Vermont more affordable, more safe, and a place that we can all be proud to call home. I am John Rodgers, and I am asking for your vote on November 5.
John Rodgers is a candidate for lieutenant governor. He is the son of Vermont dairy farmers, and he continues to work the land as a specialty crops farmer on his family farm in Glover, where he resides with his wife, Brenda, of 33 years and his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson and granddaughter
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Press Release
John Rogers needs to have a conversation with PICKPOCKEtPOWELL and the devalued dollar. These Vermont candidates can never talk about anything outside the cave called Vermont. Now, who is going to stop the inflation in this little state when four cobs of husked corn cost five dollars, The same crooks are running both sides of the agenda. More inflation and a higher cost of living is the most likely outcome in 2025 and the great hero you elect will not be able to fix this including the GOVIE.
Excellent point. No one is talking about the economy except Tik-Tokkers and X posters. One market trader is screaming from the rooftops about returning to Constitutional money. What are the politicians talking about? Crypto, rate cuts, and the hyper-inflated stock market. Not one word about massive layoffs, pending longshore dock worker strikes, commerical real estate tanked, businesses going bankrupt, and delinquency rates off the charts. No matter who wins this selection season, the SHTF is going to hit like a 2×4 to the cranium. Get prepared.
Richard, you and some others below are the reason republicans can’t win. We are concerned about VT not the national election. Rogers can’t do anything about DC politics. All the people below who state they won’t support Rogers will re-elect Zuckerman, now that’s a brilliant move. He can’t stop geoengineering or the Fed Bank or inflation. I can’t believe how people can be so stubborn. What change will you get by allowing Zuckerman to be re-elected? Rogers explained everything above. If elected he would have 2 years to prove himself. Ronald Reagan and Trump were both democrats previously to leaving the democrat party. Rogers or carpetbagger Zuckerman? I’m voting for the Vermonter.
Rodgers is a principled guy. His opponent is a carpetbagger crook from Massachusetts.
But did you officially switch parties Mr. Rodgers? Or are you a RINO?
James, you and I agree on most things on here. However, it’s time to put the poison away and vote for Rogers. He is pro-2nd amendment and has fought for the rights of Vermonters against his party. You can vote for the carpetbagger, rich, pretend farmer or you can vote for Rogers. Zuckerman wants to be governor. Voting him out of office is a good start to send him back to his toy farm.
He was a democrat for 16 years, that is what got us here to this state of spend, spend, spend. He is talking what I like to hear, but I do not think he could make a cut anywhere. We need cuts until they hurt and definitely NO RAISES FOR ELECTED PERSONS. There must be a lot of retired folks that would take the job for one or two terms that have a record of wealth thru thrift.
I will vote for John Rogers under the ‘lesser of two evils’ principle. But I do so knowing that Mr. Rogers appears to have little knowledge of how to improve Vermont’s current slide into Progressive oblivion.
As Milton Friedman opined: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Despite his recent course adjustment from his beloved democrat roots, Mr. Rogers clearly still clings to being an insecure, class conscious, socialist.
What specifically is the problem with someone being a ‘millionaire’? For that matter, what, specifically, is the problem with living below the poverty level? Why does Mr. Rogers continue to recite “the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy”… while promoting “the equal sharing of miseries”, as opposed to “the unequal sharing of blessings”?
What, specifically Mr. Rogers, do you propose for energy efficiency? Will you consider new generation nuclear power? Will you consider increasing Vermont’s consumption of inexpensive Hydro Quebec power at 1/3rd the cost of Vermont’s current electric rates? Are you one of those CO2 alarmists who doesn’t understand that CO2 is one of the most important compounds supporting life on planet earth,,. that there are other, more significant causes to climate change?
Do you understand, Mr. Rogers, that arbitrarily raising the minimum wage actually decreases the benefits to those it is intended to help?
I grew up on a dairy farm too, Mr. Rogers. And I also consider myself an honest man. That’s why I’m asking these questions of you. And I ask them of anyone who cares to explain their motivations before they recommend a course of action… a course of action curiously missing in Mr. Rogers missive.
What about the other issues confronting us that Mr. Rogers doesn’t address? The disproportionate growth of government. The failure and outrageous costs of public K-12 education, and the resulting increase in illicit drug use and 18- to 24-year-old suicide rates? What about homelessness? What about the breakdown of law and order?
Yes, I’ll vote for you Mr. Rogers, because you are at least beginning to understand that… “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
But let’s have this discussion right here on VDC so everyone can benefit from it. Let’s really ‘set the record straight’ for a change.
Jay,
If we Vermonters don’t change how we vote, like the lesser of two evils, we always get evil to one extent or another.
If we are to be about change, we have to change.
This is how the uniparty or their useful foot soldiers keep things just the way they are. They give them the prestige of high office, publicity and they do the bidding of the lobbyist, NGO’s, non-profit, etc.
We need to support, however flawed people that at least can articulate the game board, even if they don’t have a plan. Personally, I see nothing in upper leadership, who are very popular that shows any hope or sign of change in Vermont.
Until we the voters change how we vote, nothing will change in this little state.
Important questions, all- and Vermont’s voters need to hear the answers.
However, a vast majority of eligible Vermont voters could not be bothered to hear Rogers or zuckerman’s answers. They have already decided to tune out politicians or just check the box next to the D or P candidate, then continue on with their lives.
Most are blissfully ignorant of the ramifications of the “clean heat standard”, the additional property tax increases being warned for 2025-6 to the impending failure of Vermont’s government controlled health care system.
Rogers is a viable candidate to be working with phil scott- and perhaps a more vocal spokesman in state politics to diffuse the leftist majority legislature from their marxist path. Eliminating the super-majority legislature is the first step to restoring some semblance of sanity to Vermont government, albeit will take decades to undo the damage caused in the last 10 years.
Neil, thank you for responding. But don’t you agree that we will always… ‘get evil to one extent or another’. Unless, of course, you are, or know someone who is, the rare perfect exception.
‘Lesser of two evils’ is an idiom commonly used to suggest that while all options may have negative consequences, one or another option is less harmful than the other. I tend to quote others, more often than not, because what I say and propose is nothing new. Someone else has likely articulated those points in the past, often better than I can. This discussion has been ongoing since Aristotle debated Plato, and even before then.
As Henry James opined: “Excellence does not require perfection.” And as Michael J. Fox continued…. “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for – perfection is God’s business.”
So, in that regard, Neil, I see your response below in the same light as Mr. Roger’s missive … just at opposite sides of the universe.
Case in point, several of your questions below are overly vague and generalized at best. They clutter the discussion in the same way one might ask; ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’. What ‘battle’ are you talking about? What’s your definition of ‘terrain’, or ‘an effective party’? What matters more… the candidate for whom one votes, or the policies they seek to accomplish? What do you mean by making Vermont ‘affordable’? Affordable by what standard?
How can Rogers be on the Republican ticket? That’s easy. Because he won the primary.
Some of your questions are legitimate – however, with all due respect, I have already asked most of them. But I prioritized my questions by emphasizing those that are most relevant to Vermonters. We can spend our precious time discussing the U.N.’s Agenda 21 and the World Health Organization. But we have little, if any, control of those organizations.
You are correct when you say, “If we can’t define the problems, can’t define the playing field, have no plan, have no incentives, have no team, how can we possibly think we can change things?” But must we have ‘a team’ in order to change things? I’m an independent.. a (l)ibertarian, with a small ‘l’. I’m a team of one when it comes to politics.
So, Neil:
What do you propose to fix education? I say, pass H.405 to create a comprehensive market-based education system for starters.
What do propose for healthcare? I say, return to a market-based system, emphasizing employer-employee based programs… for starters.
How do you propose to end programs of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money? I say privatize those programs and let the free market work its magic… for starters.
Again, I defer to Milton Friedman. “The great virtue of a free-market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”
Again, thank you for responding. Now, if only Mr. Rogers would do so.
“I will vote for John Rogers under the ‘lesser of two evils’ principle. ” How often have I heard, or said myself, that I will compromise by choosing “the lesser of two evils ” ? At the risk of sounding like a politically correct warrior, instead of “the lesser of two evils”, would we be better served by describing them as the candidate which compromises my political beliefs the least ? We can not vote for a candidate which simply does not exist, but I think almost everybody here believes that we were all better off with “Rs” than “D/Ps” ! Does it serve us to describe a choice which we may have to make while holding our nose, as “evil”? Just a thought .
Hi Jay,
Your words were the lesser of two evils. I’m suggesting they aren’t even on team VT.
I’m suggesting that we need better choices, that both are uniparty candidates at best, so we get uniparty, Vermont is ruled by uniparty.
There are hopefully other people running for office, to whom I will gladly vote for.
Neither of these candidates have said anything about building the party, one has been leading it for many years. Some will say I’m wasting my vote. Well, that goes both ways.
John Rodgers is not going to win, regardless, he has an R next to his name.
The Gov will get re-elected.
Nothing will change in Vermont, at least from the top down. The current Lt. Gov is bidding his time to become the Governor, their bench is wide and deep.
Meanwhile our team can’t figure out what side of the fence we’re on and who we are playing against.
Your ideas about school reform will not see the light of day, from the top down at least.
There was only one perfect person, it most certainly is NOT me.
So: No solutions, Neil. No candidates. No hope.
Why do you bother commenting?
Jay,
We have unarguably, the most popular governor in the entire united states. Yet even he can’t get them to even tamp down their reckless spending, and they have a super majority, so they just tell him to pound sand, we’re doing what we want. He’s not even asking for any big change whatsoever.
Now, that’s not even getting into why he’s the most popular. That’s not getting into why they have a supermajority. That’s not getting into why the party is so divided and ineffective. That’s not getting into how John Rodgers was chosen.
Always good having discussion with you. I think I’ll look elsewhere on the ticket, perhaps vote libertarian this time.
Cheers.
Your ideas of free market are spot on.
Start your own home/school scenario.
Make your own place affordable.
Find peace, love and joy.
Finding health outside of the medical industrial complex.
We don’t need any candidate or party for any of the above, at least in some parts of our state. We have already started doing this in some areas of the state.
In one sense it would be a 21st century Amish lifestyle.
Do you understand that the office of Lt. Gov. is a largely ceremonial position?
Great Neil, after all your comments about loving each other and so forth. A vote note given to Mr. Rogers is a vote for Zuckerman. So much for your philosophy.
Is the battle Dems vs. Rep?
What is the terrain in which you choose to lead?
What are you and the Gov. going to do to build an effective party?
Will you and Governor be voting for Kamala Harris?
What are some programs of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money?
Why is Vermont in the pickle it’s in?
What are your thoughts on VTDigger, 7 Days, VPR, Front Porch Forum?
What are your thoughts on our drug problems? cough, cough, cough
If your democrat values have not changed, how can you be the Republican ticket?
What are your thoughts on Agenda 21? 2030?
What are your thoughts on giving medical sovereignty of our bodies to the WHO?
What are your recommendations to reform our education disaster?
What are your recommendations to reform our health care system?
How do you propose to make Vermont affordable?
Robert F Kennedy Jr. came to Vermont, ironically, he did not discuss his vaccine points of view while here, which was a great disappointment to me. However, he seems to be placed in the lane he was intended, and know speaks openly about the systemic changes needed in Washington.
Kennedy is very vocal about the corruption on both sides of the aisle, until someone can admit that both parties are an abject failure to the American people and in our case the citizens of Vermont, they will not get my vote.
If we can’t define the problems, can’t define the playing field, have no plan, have no incentives, have no team, how can we possibly think we can change things?
Our state has been usurped, we are a “democracy” now, something our forefathers loathed, despised and feared, we are not governing as a republic, where one’s persons rights can be taken away by the majority. If you and Scott are re-elected, it’s only two votes. My hunch is Scott will be re-elected. My hunch is nothing will change in Vermont based upon local politics, for we have to plan for change. Many don’t even know what game they are playing.
A well-argued take-down of the opponent who will not be named. Good to see someone digging in and saying “no farther.” We’ll see how it goes in November.
Thanks for approving my comment, moderator . . . after the number of recent ones you blocked for no reason.
Well John K, if you don’t vote for Rogers, you will get Zuckerman who is a danger to all Vermonters even though they don’t realize it. He wants to be governor so now is a good time to stop that in its tracks. Roger’s is pro-2nd amendment and pro-VT constitution, and he is a Vermonter. I am a conservative who will vote for Rogers. He has 2 years to prove himself and as Lt. Governor he oversees the senate.
John, I have emailed the VTGOP to no avail. Where can someone pick up one of your yard signs?
I have a few in shelburne… sbowengov@comcast.net
For those of us who have supported, worked in and been to VTGOP meetings, it is no surprise you can’t get signs for the second highest position in the state.
It would be shocking if they even had someone manning the phone, this is 40 days outside of the election!
This is but a small example of how our Governor has run the VTGOP in absolute shambles, ineffective and completely feckless organization, or and Paul Dame, too.
But not to worry folks……it’s time to GET REAL, And we’ll all be voting for Kamala too!
We need the tidy bowl man, our toilet in Montpelier is plugged.
Spot on Neil. Except it’s not just Phil and Paul, it’s in most of the county seats too. No organization, no money, and they don’t want help. Seems like a winning combination to me. NOT.
You’ll find some here in Lyndonville on the corner of Route 5 and Center Street. I think there’s a half dozen left. Take what you need.
No avail?????? At Vt GOP?????? Hmmm!! Seems like I have mentioned that the GOP Chair needs to find other work.
What has he done to bring the two divergant groups in the State (GOP) together??
This is primarily why we have such a mess.
Not voting for Rodgers. He does not represent my values. It is the same old regime in place, nothing will change, unless The People change it. I’m voting for Gregory Thayer. I watched the debate between Thayer and Rodgers and can see right away that Rodgers is the RINO establishment.
Does Zuckerman represent your views. No wonder republicans keep losing. Rogers was a democrat. so, what and so was I 40 years ago. He left the party and is damn better than Zuckerman who has been a rubber stamp for every tax and crazy idea the super majority has strapped us with and he’s a progressive not an old-time democrat. Just cut your nose off to spite your face as the saying goes. A vote not for Rogers is a vote for Zuckerman.
Voted for illegal gun bills (including ones that have killed innocent people in other states) – Proof he can never be trusted with anything – Bad person – NEXT!
So he WAS a Democrat. Sorry but I don’t trust him. Twice in my life now I have given support to Democrats who spoke a good game and gave me the answers I was looking for. If you remember Tim Ashe, he was the first one and what a mistake I made back then. For now, I won’t mention the second but I feel betrayed. Sorry, Mr. Rogers, I can’t support you.
So, you just pledged your vote to Zuckerman. Do you trust him? Because if you fail to vote for Rogers, you will help elect Zuckerman. What is wrong with you people. Here is an opening for a republican team leading the state. Rogers is more of a republican than Scott and you will vote for him, right?
As long as Deep Blue Vermont has their progressive ” Stupid Majority ” ruling the roost, you can vote for Phil Scott, and John Rodgers as conservative leaders nothing will change in the state, with their left-leaning tendencies.
The progressive cancer that resides under the ” Golden Doom ” yes doom, this state will be destroyed from within as you are seeing taxes, and debt with more on the way.
if you want real change, vote the members of the progressive stupid majority ” OUT “.
Wake up people.
It’s the same as Phil Scott in the end… A Democrat who says he’s a Republican because he can get on the ballot.
I know it’s the strategic move for now and it’s a better decision than the commie “farmer” who is in there now, but how can I be one to make the same mistake as Phil AGAIN?
Oh and I’m very surprised that Mr. Rodgers didn’t bother commenting on anything above. Might have won someone over…
And look what the opposition just published:
https://thevpo.org/2024/09/27/we-regret-to-inform-you-that-john-rodgers-has-drunk-the-kool-aid/
Well done Brian, Well done.
When we started the Green Mountain party, we got onto many feeds, donated, and this is but the tip of the iceberg. Their network is amazing. The free obama phones, were really to give everyone a devise to get propaganda, to which Vermont is highly wired for.
Do you think it was a coincidence that there were so many protesters outside of Flynn theatre? That everyone was reserving the tickets ahead of time so nobody could hear what Trump had to say? Nobody knew or cared about Trump. But the network, working outside the mainstream media delivered personally to everyone’s iphone was very, very, very busy and effective.
This what I mean when I say the VTGOP doesn’t have any idea of what is going on. I’m sure some do but they aren’t in the driver’s seat for sure. One of the strongest and fastest ways to make an organization ineffective is to keep all the same people in forever…..doesn’t matter. We need to be training and lifting people up, clearly that is not happening.
Neil, it’s definitely not happening and they have no idea the amount of data and planning the Dems do year after year making everything more and more accurate and more and more effective. It’s all tied together at this point to and it would take years for the Republican party to even get on the same page as what the Dem’s are doing in VT. Take the Numinar software (IMO one of the only good things Dame has done), Republicans didn’t bother to use it to help build the lists run calling parties or anything most importantly they never put any significant data back into the system to help next year. Absolutely a waste of money and time if you don’t do that. Why?
And you still haven’t answered my question—-what would you do to ban geoengineering (weather modification -manipulation) cloud seeding, chemtrails and aluminum dust particles everywhere in the soil and water??? The multiple floods in the state over the last year and a half are NOT climate change !!! States like Tennessee have banned geoengineering, why doesn’t Vermont??? You would have to come out and say climate change is a hoax, and you can’t because those in charge would loose too much money. So instead let’s continue to call out the bigger rat who’s are making more money than you because they are not paying their help a livable wage of 15.00 an hour. Vermont cannot afford 15.00 an hour minimum wage!!! If you are a Republican how about talking about balancing the budget???
No Mr Rodgers, you are not a republican and you shouldn’t address yourself as one.
When you prepare for a concert, a bit holiday retail business boom, war, a baseball game, an election, this is all won in the preparation ahead of time, along with realistic expectations upon what your team can accomplish.
We have only prepared to elect democratic party members. We are always suckered into the philosophy that if we have a winner, such as Scott, it will revive the party. How’s that been working over the last 4 decades?
Yes, you need somebody who know what the hell is going on and how to fix it, but you can’t orchestrate a wonder piece of music with one great flute player. You can’t win a baseball game with only a good pitcher. You can’t win a football game with only one good receiver.
What has been planned for is a complete political disaster in Vermont and a majority rule of the Uniparty in control of Montpelier, full of lies and hands in your pockets.
We have not prepared to win; therefore, we will not win. Many will go out and be cannon fodder for a good cause, but will not live another day to experience change, progress and victory.
There are many who would man the VTGOP phone for free.
There are many who would donate an office space for free.
People would love to help in a victory, believe me, nobody in Vermont is sick of winning, oh my no.
There are so many that understand Vermont’s problems, why and how to solve them, we only need to come together. I pray we come together in peace, love and harmony.
Just remember “Most Republicans are actually democrats but no democrats are ever republican ” ht bonging. VT is done.
When I say split, I am referring to the R party in VT. Currently it is a dysfunctional,
organization going through the motions with a dysfunctional leader, and is clueless about what is actually going on in the field of candidates. The GOP could make a few gains if the support of candidates was unified and the Party acted like it knew what it was doing.
We have two years before the next election. The R’s had better pull up the boot straps, and make the most of that time.
Out Here.